Welcome Home, A Soldier's Life
by Zombielover86
Summary: BEING REWRITTEN! Lieutenant Kim Carter was the last survivor of her team from Atlanta and is making her way to Fort Benning when she comes across a young girl lost in the woods.


**Welcome Home**

**Disclaimer- I do not own anything to do with the Walking Dead except my own storylines ;-) All belongs to AMC.**

**Summary- Lieutenant Kim Carter was the last survivor of her team from Atlanta and is making her way to Fort Benning when she comes across a young girl lost in the woods.**

**Warning- This story will contain femslash so if not your thing best be moving on.**

**Chapter 1**

The one thing I am loving about this Zombie Apocalypse is the peace and quiet there's nothing around to make any racket, of course there was the obvious draw backs I could no longer veg out on the sofa and watch reruns of Scooby Doo on my days off instead I have to walk around the damn country to make sure I don't get eaten by people with a really bad case of the munchies.

I couldn't help but chuckle at my inner ramblings they just seemed to get more and more silly as the days went on. Letting out a sigh I glanced down to double check my weapons, I was carrying two handguns with eight extra clips, two combat knives tucked into my boots, a machete strapped to my thigh and my rifle slung over my shoulder. Being a soldier in these times came in handy for getting all the weapons I needed.

Two hours now I had been walking through the woods hoping to find a house or something nearby, I had been up on the interstate but decided to veer off when a freaking giant herde of walkers came wondering along. To be honest I was getting a little sick of the tree smell.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a twig snap just off in front of me, crouching down I pulled one of my knives from my boot and crept forward, a young girl had fallen over some branches on the ground.

"Hey..." I whispered gently hoping not to scare her anymore than she already looked, her head snapped round and she looked me straight in the eye. She couldn't of been anymore than twelve, thirteen. My eyes scanned her body for any wounds or bite marks. "Are you hurt, did you get bitten?"

"N...n..o" The poor girl was petrified, "Walkers...they chased me."

"Ok ok you're alright now I won't let any of them near you," I walked slowly towards her almost like how you would if you were trying to approach a skittish animal. "I'm Kim."

"Soph...ia"

"Hi there Sophia, come on let me help you up." I held my hand out to her, she took it gingerly and I helped her to her feet that's when I noticed the doll she had clutched in her other hand. "And who might this be?"

"Lily, her names Lily."

"Well hello Lily, are you hurt?"

"No she's ok." I looked up and Sophia was just looking at me with a small smile on her lips.

"Are you on your own out here sweetheart?"

"My mom she's up on the interstate with the other people we are with, I was hiding under a car but they saw me and chased me in here. Rick found me though!"

"Who's Rick?"

"He's the policeman he told me to hide and he made the walkers chase him but I was soo scared that I ran, I tried to get back to the road but I couldn't find it and then you were here."

"How many of your group are there?"

"Well there's Glenn, Daryl, Andrea, Dale, T Dog, Carl, Lori, Rick, Shane and me and my mom." People, I couldn't believe it.

"How long have you been out here by yourself?"

"I don't know,"

"Ok sweetie, I'm going to help you get back to your mom," Glancing up between the tree's I could just see the sun, it was too low in the sky for us to be wondering around the woods any longer. "Right we are going to have to stop for the night though."

"No...but my mom..."

"I know you want to get back to her but you have to trust me on this, me and you wondering around in the woods now is dangerous, it's going to get dark soon and I can't protect as well in the dark if we are moving around." The poor girl looked miserable not that I could blame her. "This is what we are going to do, you see that huge tree right there?"

"Yeah" She nodded looking to where I was pointing.

"I want you to stand right next to it, don't move from there ok?"

"What? But where are you going? You can't leave me alone!"

"I'm not going to sweetie I'm going to set up a little camp so we're safe for the night." This seemed to settle her a little so I gently pushed her in the direction of the tree and began setting up.

xxxx

**Andrea's P.O.V**

"We'll find her I promise but the group can't go looking through the woods at night or we could lose more people." I tried explaining to the frantic mother but nothing seemed to be working. "We are gong to head back to the RV and then go meet up with Lori and Rick at that Green's place."

"But she's just a little girl, she's lost in these woods we can't stop now!" Carol screamed at me.

"The shouting ain't helping none, you could attract more of the walkers, we'll find Sophia." Daryl jumped in, I watched her face fall even more and her shoulders sag. I felt my heart break a little more for this woman I know if it was Amy in these woods alone I'd be acting the same way.

"Come on," I gently took her hand and we began our walk back to the road.

**Xxxxxxx**

**Kim's P.O.V**

"Good Morning," I whispered quietly as I noticed Sophia's eyes flutter open. No more than two seconds later she flew to her feet, I staggered slightly trying to rise to calm her but considering I was running on fumes I slumped back down. "Easy sweetheart, do you remember what happened?"

Even though I recieved a barely there nod it was enough to settle my heart beat some.

Sadness quickly replaced it though as the poor girl began pacing up and down our little make shift camp.

"Ok let's just have something to eat and then we'll get going alright?"

"Ok," She whispered back slowly coming over and taking a seat on the ground across from me.

Digging around in my bag I managed to find two trail bars and a bottle of water. I would have to go on a supply run after I dropped her off with her group.

"Here," She gently took the bar from my outstretched hand but just set it in her lap. "Are you not hungry?"

This seemed to snap her out of whatever was going on in her head as she began to slowly eat.

"We'll head straight to the highway and then follow it down until we find your mum ok?"

"But what about the walkers?"

"That big group you saw yesterday are probably long ahead of us by now but if there is any stragglers I can take care of them,"

"Are you a sheriff like Rick?"

"No sweetie, I'm a soldier. I was stationed in Atlanta."

"Your the only one left aren't you?"

"Yes," I replied softly not really wanting to scare her.

"We came from just outside Atlanta, we made a camp by a quarry but then walkers came and hurt alot of our group so mommy said we had to go with Rick,"

"Your mom's smart, it's better to stay on the move than in just one place these days," I said placing the bottle of water infront of her. "I'll start packing up,"

I was surprised when a pair of tiny hands starting helping me put everything back in the bags.

"Thank you Sophia," I smiled before pushing myself to my feet with a groan. "God I miss my bed,"

I couldn't help but laugh as she began giggling.

"Me too, mom used to put lots of pillows and blankets on my bed because I told her I wanted to live in Alladins lamp,"

"Oh yeah I remember that movie and your right inside that lamp did look nice and snuggly," I hefted my bag on to my shoulders and reached for the other but again those little hands beat me to it. Sophia just shrugged it on to her own shoulders like she'd been doing it for years. "Alright then, let's go find your mom," My heart warmed when her tiny fingers wrapped around mine.

xxxxx

**Andrea's P.O.V**

"Ready?" I whispered carefully, placing my hand on Carol's shoulder. We were stood infront of a car, we'd written a message on the windscreen incase Sophia came back here before we found her.

"No...but I guess I have to be don't I?"

"We're going to find her, for all we know we might see her on the way to Green's place," Even as I said I didn't believe my own words and I knew from the look in her eyes that she didn't either.

With one last look at the tree line she swiftly ducked around me and up into the RV.

"Please, let us find her,"

xxxxx

**Kim's P.O.V**

"Any cars looking familiar?"

"There's too many...I...don..."

"Sweetie it's ok, don't worry we'll just keep walking and if you see something then you let me know," I'm such a sucker for a stutter, we had a new recruit in Atlanta before all this started and she always stuttered when she was upset or nervous. So to know this girl was so upset that it was making her develop a stutter really did pull on my heart strings.

"Kim!"

I was so caught up with her that I stupidly forgot to take notice of what was around us, rookie mistake.

Dragging themselves towards us, two cars up, were four walkers. It's been a while since I have seen walkers in such bad shape as these ones, they looked like they'd been starved to the point where I could actually see the bones pressing heavily against there skin.

"It's ok Sophia," Swiftly drawing the machete I had strapped to my thigh I gently pushed Sophia behind me. "Stay right here," I whispered.

With ease, that came with years of experience, I siddled straight upto them avoiding each of the hands that stretched out for me. Choosing the one furtherest away I ducked behind it and effectively rammed my weapon through it's skull dropping it instantly.

Two of the others lunged for me making me panic for a second before I got my footing right. I quickly brought my machete up cutting deeply across each of there foreheads in one move dropping those two aswell.

Spinning round my heart leap in my throat, while dealing with the other three the last one had headed for Sophia obviously deducting she was the easier prey.

"Oh no you don't," I charged straight at it, jumping on it's back while shoving the blade through the back of the head. While it fell I let my legs drop so as it hit the floor I was left standing over it.

I dropped the weapon to the floor and ran the last few steps to Sophia. I dropped down to my knee's infront of her and tenderly took her hands in mine.

"Are you alright?" I scanned every inch of her body I could see looking for any sign of injury. I sighed in relief when she shook her head. "Ok come on,"

I left one of her hands in mine and quickly collected the forgotten blade, wiping it on the back of the fallen walker to get rid of some of the blood on it before I strapped it back easily to my thigh.

From then I would keep my eyes peeled, no way was I going to see that look of terror on this little girls face again.

We kept walking for about ten minutes before Sophia started to tug at my hand, try to drag me along quicker.

"What is it?" I asked, my eyes shooting over my shoulder to make sure nothing was following us.

"This is it! We were just up here," She instantly replied, her gaze stuck firmly a few cars ahead of us. "Mommy was by that car with the red shirt hanging out there back!"

I let her pick up the pace, jogging slightly to keep up with her. She stopped directly at the car she just pointed too and spun around in a full circle, her eyes alight with joy.

"Mom!"

"Ssshhh!" I whispered, gently squeezing her shoulder. Looking up the road a ways a flash of white through a windshield caught my attention. "Up here,"

This time I pulled her along with me, as we made it to the car I let out a sigh of relief. The nagging feeling at the back of mind easing.

_Sophia, stay here. We'll come back every morning to check for you._

Her group had left a small stash of supplies on the bonnet of the car, some food and water aswell as a blanket.

"I'm sorry that we missed them today, but just think tomorrow morning you'll be safely tucked in your moms arms," I smiled, handing her the bottle of water they'd left.

"Can't we go look for them?"

"We don't know where they went sweetie, if we stay here for the night they'll find us easily tomorrow." I could tell she wanted to argue her point more, but instead she just bit her bottom lip and have me a nod. "Well considering we are here for the night, lets set up one of the cars for us to sleep in. That way we are out of the way and hidden if anything comes down here,"

"Okay," She shrugged, disappointment still obvious across the little girls face.

"What's your favourite thing to do?" I asked, in hopes of lifting her spirits if only for a little while. A mother and daughter should never be separated no matter the circumstances, so if I could fill that void as this little girls friend to take her mind off that separation for awhile I'd happily do anything.

"I like to draw, when it was a bad night at home me and momma would sit up all night and draw funny pictures,"

_'A bad night?' _The thought crossed my mind without my permission, all sorts of images I'd rather never have thought about followed it.

Biting my tongue, I shot her a tight smile and gestured to the mountain of vehicles surrounding us. "Well after we sort out our little hide away for tonight, we take a look around. There's bound to be something we can do some doodling with,"

"Okay!" Her reply was much better this time around, a smile lifting at her lips.

"Let's get to work then!"

xxxxx

**Carol's P.O.V**

Glancing around our makeshift camp, on the Dr Greens farm, my heart felt like it was going to fall out of my chest. Surrounded by beautiful fields, with the sounds of horses and cows in the background I couldn't help but feel a sense of hopelessness. Sophia would love it here, to be able to move free around these large grounds without the fear of something or one lurking around the corner waiting to her.

Tears filled my eyes once again, I tried to hold them in sniffling But they fell unbidden anyway.

The thought that my daughter was out there in the surrounding forest alone and frightened caused a pain I wished I would never feel to envelop me. Even before the dead started walking it was dangerous for someone so young to be out all alone but now it's tripled. No one would even think to worry about snakes and other wild animals there sole focus would be on the walkers, but every single danger kept flashing over and over in my mind.

"Carol?" Lori called out to me gently, placing her hand on my shoulder. I fought against the tenseness in my shoulders, trying to relax. "Sounds idiotic to ask but how are you doing?"

I sighed at her, the anger I've been fighting since Rick came back alone on the highway boiling in the pit of my stomach. "I don't really know how to answer that Lori, my baby is out there and I'm here not doing a damn thing!"

"I know, I can't even begin to think about what your going through."

It registered then, through the throng of fog that seems to have been clouding my mind the past twenty four ours, Lori was living her own version of this nightmare.

"How's Carl?" I whispered.

"He's hanging in there. Shane and the man that shot him, Otis, have gone to an old FEMA station. Hershal needed some more equipment for the surgery but the two of them are taking to long. We told him to try, hopefully Shane and Otis will be back soon," She replied, all in one breath. I watched her shoulders move harshly under her deep breaths.

She was trying to kept it all together, just like I was so I slowly slipped my hand into hers. Squeezing, to try and show her the support I just couldn't seem to vocalise.

xxxxxx

**Kim's P.O.V**

"Okay, so what do you feel like drawing?" I smiled, settling into the back seat with Sophia.

We'd set this old station wagon up to sleep in earlier on, she had moved everything out of it and gone through it all, after I'd checked to make sure it was safe, while I had pushed some cars closer to ours. I'd formed a sort of wall to surround us, unless we were seen by the dead they would just pass us by. Thank god they weren't smart enough to actually seek us out.

We had also been through a majority of the cars around us and got quite a haul in the drawing department. Sophia had smiled continuously at throughout the whole process which in turn had lifted my own spirits.

"Cars?" She giggled, muffling the sound with her hands to her mouth.

I groaned, the sound just making her giggle more. "To think I was moaning about walking the other morning,"

"More comfy though," She shrugged, bouncing slightly.

"How about we draw our favourite animal and then tomorrow you can give it to your mom?"

"She'd like that,"

"Anything from her baby she's going to love," I whispered, peering out the windows.

The sound of shuffling feet instantly caught my attention, as I quickly shut the light off from the small torch I had under a blanket. The darkness enveloped us and I felt Sophia move closer to me, her hand gripping the bottom of my shirt tightly.

"It's ok," I shuffled her down a little bit, so we were completely out of sight. "I'm sorry,"

"Its ok," She echoed my words and snuggled into my side. "We can draw in the morning,"

xxxxxxxx


End file.
